Coworking on the Road

Living on the road has been a wonderful time to experience different cultures and new places. However, there are distinct challenges when it comes to keeping a full-time work schedule while traveling. Recently, we started taking advantage of different coworking spaces where we get a chance to get out of the house, have a dedicated office, and meet up with local folks who are always more than happy to share their favorite lunch spot or even give us a tour around town.

Coworking is a great solution for those who work at home and want a bit of separation between their work and home lives. When my husband and I first started out on the road, we made sure to rent apartments where we had space for both of us to work. We quickly realized that we were starting to feel a little housebound and a bit disconnected from the various cities we were living in. When we began integrating occasional coworking into our lives, we really started to see a big difference in how we connected we felt to each city.

Here I am, blogging away at LaunchPad in New Orleans. While many tourists spend their time stumbling along Bourbon Street, I headed down to the Central Business District to grab a spot to work. LaunchPad is one of the biggest coworking spaces I've seen so far — it occupies 3 floors and has many private offices, shared spaces and even a few lounge areas. This worked great for me since I'm what you might call a bit of an unconventional sitter. LaunchPad is a great spot that not only houses many freelancers and small businesses, it also hosts events from hackathons to yoga classes, giving it strong communal vibe.

Another spot we really enjoyed was The Creative Loft in Jackson, Mississippi. Located in Banner Hall, a bustling building that houses a bakery and an independent bookshop, this coworking space is an outgrowth of the husband and wife team behind Creative Distillery, who needed a bit more space than their home office could provide. We loved working in this space and were lucky enough to get a tour around town from our temporary 'coworkers'. Though working while traveling is sometimes a challenge, by plugging in to local coworking spaces, we're feeling more connected than ever.